


Charted

by Enchantable



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Discussions of Race, M/M, Romance, and college applications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 23:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19345066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enchantable/pseuds/Enchantable
Summary: “What do you identify as?” Alex asks.“I identify as someone whose done with this bullshit,” Michael snaps.





	Charted

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Alex’s relationship with his heritage and race

 

“I’m done.” 

Alex looks up at the stack of papers that are dropped in front of him. Michael stands there with outrage on his features, chewing his bottom lip. Alex moves his computer to the side and looks from Michael to the form. Applications are done online but Michael likes pen and paper. He’s tactile. So he’s printed out the general application. Alex remembers him getting into all the colleges he applied to, mostly with full scholarships. He doesn’t think anything will be easier this time around. Him being done doesn’t mean the application is. 

“What am I supposed to check for race?” He demands, “there’s nothing there for alien!” 

Whatever Michael had checked as a teenager—actually Alex can’t speak to that. Maybe not having a box was just as upsetting then as it was now. But without a roof over his head or a support system, Michael had to pick and choose what he got upset about. With those things taken care of, maybe the hurt is new and fresh. And it’s one that Alex gets. That box doesn’t matter until it does. He stared at his own applications through a haze of confusion about everything. First when he was applying before he got shipped off and then when he finally went. They don’t have a box for ‘monster’ anymore than they have a box for ‘alien’. 

“What do you identify as?” He asks. 

“I identify as someone whose done with this bullshit,” Michael snaps. 

“You could leave it blank.” Alex offers. 

“I mean it’s gonna come up right? They talk about this shit on campus don’t they?” 

Alex can see the nerves for what they are. Michael hates the unknown. Which is somewhat ironic for a man who had very firm plans to fire himself into space on a homemade rocket. Michael has talked himself in and out of going to college for most of the last decade. But he’s staying. He’s staying and, as he puts it, he’s going to have to make something of himself on the planet. Though Alex points out that Michael has made something of himself, no matter how often Michael dismisses him for saying it. At some people Alex swears he’s going to wear him down. 

“You’re not going to be living on campus, unless you’re planning on moving out,” he says, “and you still look like you’re a teenager when you want to, so you’ll fit right in,” he leans back in his chair, “what do you want to tell them?” He asks. 

“I can’t just—“

“I’m not talking about what you can and cannot do,” Alex says, meeting Michael’s chaos with his own calm, “what do you want to do?”

Michael hesitates for a moment and then seems to fold slightly into himself, the way that he only does around people that he trusts. Alex knows being part of that group is a privilege. One he has every intention of keeping. 

“Tell them,” Michael mutters before shrugging off any melancholy, except for what lingers in his eyes. He swings a chair around and straddles it, “but I can’t so what do I tell them?” He says and it’s almost a whine, “am I caucasian?”

“You know those DNA tests are a massive conspiracy to collect biodata,” Alex says. Michael’s not satisfied with that answer, “tell them you don’t want t talk about it.” 

Michael looks at Alex sharply, taking in how his body language changes. Alex has been his greatest resource and his main source of comfort navigating the potential of going back to college. College, home, relationship—he doesn’t think he’d even want any of it without Alex but he certainly feels like he couldn’t do it most days. But something about the question seems to dig at Alex, though he’s doing a really good job at hiding it. 

“You don’t talk about it,” he says. 

“About what?” Alex asks and Michael can hear the lie in his voice. 

“What box did you check?”

Alex stiffens and Michael gives himself a mental high five for figuring it out fast. Except Alex stiffens and Michael kicks himself for not figuring out that this was something Alex didn’t want to talk about sooner. But Alex does this thing where he compares himself to everyone and then comes up with why his personal shit isn’t a big deal. Which is the most ridiculous thing Michael has ever seen. He doesn’t think his monsters growing up were any worse than the monster who Alex had to come home to every night. His own frustration because his heritage doesn’t exist on the form doesn’t mean Alex isn’t entitled to be frustrated. Shoulders still tense, Alex sets his pen down and looks at him. He’s more guarded than Michael has seen him in a while. Alarm bells go off in his head and Michael wonders if this is a line he’s not supposed to cross.

“Does it matter?” Alex asks.

“Only ‘cause it’s you,” Michael says. 

Alex sighs and closes his eyes.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Michael starts, reaching for the form but Alex puts his hand over it. Michael’s still not a hundred percent when it comes to looking at his hand. He’s always been more tan than Max and Isobel. “Alex.”

“Look, my mom left,” Alex starts slowly. Michael nods, “until 2016, same sex marriage was illegal in her tribe,” he continues, pressing his lips together, “that side of my heritage rejected me just as much as the other one,” he attempts as casual shrug that falls horribly flat, “besides my dad was reading all of them. Checking the white box was easier.”

The amount of information Alex gives in those few words makes Michael’s heart break for him. Of course Jesse Manes would object to Alex claiming his heritage. Jesse is the epitome of that kind of guy, but it has nothing to do with Alex and everything to do with his mom. And on top of that, Alex’s mom rejected him as well. It’s a load of shit that the one safe haven Michael’s ever had has managed to get rejected by all of his. Michael gets up and moves the chair around, sitting next to Alex at the table. He tugs the application back over and checks the box. If they don’t have alien, he can stand being in the same box as Alex on the stupid form. 

Next question. 

“Can I put my truck in place of my parents?” He asks. 

Alex works not to smile and looks at him. 

“Guerin.”

“I’m serious!” 

“Just finish filling it out,” Alex says.

“Fine but I’m putting the truck as my parents,” he says. 


End file.
